Carbon County commissioners on Thursday began to use money from the national opioid settlement to launch a fentanyl awareness campaign with Monroe and Pike counties.

The commissioners committed $200,000 toward the campaign, which will be undertaken by Kudu Creative of Easton for the three counties.

The firm will utilize strategies to get the message out, such as cable television commercials geared toward specific geographic areas, small publications, billboards, Commissioner Rocky Ahner said.

They will also use social media and focus on community outreach and education with area schools and hospitals, he said.

St. Luke’s University Health System wants to partner with the county, as does the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau, which will help the counties’ funds go farther in this campaign, Ahner said.

“They have the buying power. They have the media,” he said. “They can get us those 10 billboards for the price of seven. I think that’s what we’re looking for.”

There are so many avenues the counties can take with the campaign and help people who need help, Ahner said.

“I think this is a long time coming,” he said. “I think we have to get this campaign going. I feel if we sit here and do nothing, then, we are part of the problem.”

Carbon County has received more than $723,000 in settlement funding, and must begin to use the money, Ahner said.

The county will receive another $400,000 in December, which will put the funding at $1.2 million by the end of the year, he said.

The funds also must be used within an 18-month window, and that window on the initial funding is starting to narrow, Ahner said.

The additional funding could be withheld if Carbon County doesn’t start spending the money already allocated as part of the settlement, Solicitor Robert Frycklund said.

“So, we do need to spend these moneys and I do think this PR campaign is a good place to go,” he said.

Another worthy use would be treatment courts, but the funds must be specially tailored to opioid use, Frycklund said. The funds can also benefit co-occurring conditions, such as mental health or methamphetamine use, but still have an underlying opiate use, he said.

“We can be creating a liability for ourselves,” he said. “We’re looking to the state to give us a little more guidance. I know this is a pervasive issue in all 67 counties.”

Commissioner Chris Lukasevich said this was great start on using the funds, and the county will want to see and be able to measure the program’s impact to ensure the funds are being used effectively.

“We are going to utilize these funds in a manner that will have a positive impact,” he said.

Pennsylvania was expected to receive about $1 billion of the $26 billion national settlement with Cardinal, McKesson and Amerisource Bergen, the top three pharmaceutical distributors, and Johnson & Johnson, which manufactured and delivered opioids.

Carbon County’s share was targeted at more than $4.5 million over 18 years. The county ratified the settlement in late 2021.

Commissioners’ Chair Wayne Nothstein was not at the meeting.